I was wondering what people thought of this excersise. As well as other excersises for strenghtening the neck.
I used to do those a lot. They were great for bridging out of being pinned, pivoting around your head, and executing a reversal. It has recently been recomended that I start doing them again to strengthen the muscles around my c- set of vertebra. They are hard to hit.
I’ve also been considering setting up a strap for my underpully and doing head rows, but I’ll have to check and see if thats a good idea.
I’d recommend getting a neck harness and using that.
A lot of people are against bridges, but too many people have built strong necks using them over the years. And despite all of the drama, out of the 1000’s of people I know who do bridges, none of them have had any neck injuries while performing them.
Xen, as you have about a years wrestling experience where do the thousands come from?
I do bridges every couple days, usually in the gym. I do around 3 sets of 1 minute bridges, I dont know if time limit really matters. I also used to do neck flexions, where I’d lie on a bench and curl my head towards my chest, with a plate on my head. Those get old after a while, so I switched to bridges.
One guy on my team has been wrestling his whole life and he’s got a thick neck, so there’s proof that bridges are some good stuff.
[quote]peterm533 wrote:
Xen, as you have about a years wrestling experience where do the thousands come from?[/quote]
Nice.
Just by wrestling and playing football you will build your neck muscles.
I wrestle for an independent wrestling promotion out of Chicago(WCPW) and find that a strong neck helps with the backlash you recieve when taking falls. I do neck twists. Lying on the floor, head off the ground about 1" and twist left to right. I do about 200 a day. Works great!
I have been looking for some great instruction on neck bridge technique for a while and have been unsuccessful. Does anyone have any advice for a program and technique. Or links to where I can find it.
[quote]Xen Nova wrote:
A lot of people are against bridges, but too many people have built strong necks using them over the years.[/quote]
Just to play Devil’s Advocate (a great movie, go rent it tonight): A lot of people have built big biceps from concentration curls over the years. That doesn’t mean it’s the best way.
Personally, I’m not a fan of bridging, as I generally prefer using external resistance as opposed to bodyweight. The “dangers” are highly debatable.
Head harnesses can be tons of fun. Over at ElteFTS, Jim Wendler is b-i-g on neck training. He mentioned something about attaching a head harness to a sled and dragging it. Nice stuff.
I remember while in wrestling that we trained our necks using yes-no’ exercises. You would lay on the floor, on your back, and begin by doing the ‘yes’ motion. Up and down with no resting on the floor. Then right after, you’d do the no motion. Head about 1" off the ground and full turn left to right and then back.
We use to do 30 yes’ and then 30 no’s. Next set, 29 yes’, 29 no’s…you get the point. You’d usually count down to at least 25 or as low as you want.
I found the best way to do these is with your head laying off the side of your bed. Trust me, if you havent done neck exercises before…you’ll be sore the next day. Forget counting sheep at night, these will put you out.
-T
Ah yes. Putting your head on the side of the bed is always good for putting your neck through the wringer.
[quote]Tank53 wrote:
I found the best way to do these is with your head laying off the side of your bed. Trust me, if you havent done neck exercises before…you’ll be sore the next day. Forget counting sheep at night, these will put you out.
-T[/quote]